Tiere in der Stadt – Eine Naturgeschichte

Köln 2013, HC., dust cover, 477 pages, 12 b/w illustrations. Grey herons fish nearby a U-Bahn station in Berlin, red foxes relax under the sun in the Klingelpätzpark in Cologne and vulnerable grey-headed flying foxes roost in the trees around the Sydney Opera House. Wildlife is clearly encroaching on humans in cities and formerly rarely seen animals now routinely venture the streets. There is an astonishing variety of species between stone, concrete and asphalt. Nowhere else can you find so many native bird species (more than 150) in such a small area as in Berlin—not even in seemingly intact natural environments. Why is that? Have our cities turned into oases while the land around them has degraded into an agricultural desert? What does this diverse fauna tell about the quality of habitats in urban and rural settings? Which qualities do animals need and how much do they have to change in order to survive in our company? And how do these encounters influence our relationships with nature? Through impressive, vividly told stories, Bernhard Kegel takes us on a research trip into urban jungles and opens our eyes to the wilderness on our doorsteps. Price reduced from 22 euros. In German.